Ornette Coleman: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Ornette Coleman arrived from Fort Worth with a plastic alto, a blues tone bent out of tempered pitch, and a theory he called harmolodics. This mix traces the Texas R&B bandstands and bebop he came through, the odd theoretical and visual sources he absorbed, the quartet partners who made the music collective, and the players who carried the idea into funk, punk and downtown New York.

The Kynda mix for Ornette Coleman

• Key Influence · Now's the Time by Charlie Parker (1945). Coleman learned alto by memorizing Parker records in Fort Worth, and his early playing was close enough to bebop vocabulary that critics argued about whether he could play changes at all. 'Now's the Time' is Parker at his most blues-rooted, the side of bebop Coleman kept while discarding the chorus structure — the cry and the phrasing survive in 'Shape of Jazz to Come' intact.
• Influencia Obscura · The Schillinger System of Musical Composition by Joseph Schillinger (1946). Largely self-taught, Coleman worked through theory books on his own, and Schillinger's mathematical system — composition derived from geometry, rhythm from number series, free of common-practice harmony — gave him language for a music that moved by melodic and rhythmic logic rather than chord changes. Gershwin and Benny Goodman studied it too; Coleman's harmolodics descends from this strain of theory.
• Local Roots · Dogon A.D. by Julius Hemphill (1972). Hemphill came out of the same Fort Worth school system and the same Texas blues-and-marching-band grounding, and carried that drawling, vocalized alto into the St. Louis BAG collective and the World Saxophone Quartet. 'Dogon A.D.' shows the regional accent Coleman made famous: a limping dance figure, raw intonation, and a line that is all blues even when the harmony has gone.
• Beyond the Medium · Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R. Buckminster Fuller (1969). Coleman's harmolodic theory — melody, harmony and rhythm granted equal standing, everyone playing lead at once — was framed in the vocabulary of systems and synergy that Fuller popularized, and Coleman spoke of music in similarly structural, utopian terms. Fuller's premise that a whole behaves in ways its parts cannot predict is the clearest prose description of what an Ornette Coleman quartet does.
• Peer · Out to Lunch! by Eric Dolphy (1964). Dolphy was in Los Angeles in the same years Coleman was scuffling there, and he played bass clarinet on the 1960 'Free Jazz' double quartet session. His own masterpiece pushes intervallic leaps and vocalized cries against a loosened pulse — the alternative route to the same liberation, keeping a skeletal harmonic frame where Coleman abandoned one entirely.
• From the Canon · The Shape of Jazz to Come by Ornette Coleman (1959). Recorded in Los Angeles with Cherry, Haden and Higgins and released as Coleman hit the Five Spot, this is the pianoless quartet's manifesto: heads as singable as folk songs, solos that follow the melody's emotional logic rather than its chords, and 'Lonely Woman,' a dirge over a racing pulse that became the most covered piece in the free jazz canon.
• Key Collaborator · Complete Communion by Don Cherry (1966). Cherry's pocket trumpet was the other voice of the classic quartet from the Los Angeles years through 'Free Jazz,' their unisons deliberately imperfect and all the more human for it. His own Blue Note debut extends Coleman's method into suite form, long linked themes rather than tunes, and points toward the world-music syncretism Cherry pursued for the rest of his life.
• Legacy · Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman by John Zorn (1989). Zorn's downtown tribute runs Coleman's compositions through hardcore tempos and under-two-minute blasts, with two altos and two drummers. It is the most explicit acknowledgment that New York's 1980s avant-garde took its grammar from Coleman, and it reintroduced tunes like 'Chronology' and 'WRU' to an audience that arrived via punk rather than jazz.

What influenced Ornette Coleman

• Blues After Hours by Pee Wee Crayton (1948). Blues After Hours (Pee Wee Crayton) — ghost for Ornette Coleman “He then joined the band of Pee Wee Crayton and traveled with them to Los Angeles.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Albert Ayler. The text explicitly says Ayler influenced Coleman's trumpet and violin style. “His friendship with free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler influenced his unorthodox self-taught style on the trumpet and violin.” (Wikipedia)
• Charlie Parker. The Shape of Jazz to Come (Ornette Coleman) — legacy for Charlie Parker (via The Shape of Jazz to Come, Now's the Time) (musicbrainz.org)
• Now's the Time by Charlie Parker (1945). Now's the Time (Charlie Parker) — titan for Ornette Coleman (musicbrainz.org)
• Lester Leaps In by Lester Young (1939). Lester Leaps In (Lester Young) — titan for Ornette Coleman (musicbrainz.org)
• The Schillinger System of Musical Composition by Joseph Schillinger (1941). The Schillinger System of Musical Composition (Joseph Schillinger) — ghost for Ornette Coleman (openlibrary.org)
• Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R. Buckminster Fuller (1969). Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (R. Buckminster Fuller) — culture for Ornette Coleman (openlibrary.org)
• The Pipes of Pan at Joujouka by The Master Musicians of Jajouka (1971). The Pipes of Pan at Joujouka (The Master Musicians of Jajouka) — culture for Ornette Coleman “The album, The Road to Jajouka, was released in 2014 and featured guest appearances by Ornette Coleman, John Medeski, Flea, DJ Logic, Lee Ranaldo, Bill Laswell, and many others.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Caldonia by Louis Jordan (1945). Caldonia (Louis Jordan) — titan for Ornette Coleman
• The White Angel by Jackson Pollock (1946). The White Angel (Jackson Pollock) — culture for Ornette Coleman

Peers and kindred spirits

• Yoko Ono by Yoko Ono. Coleman's quartet performed with Ono. “On February 29, 1968, Coleman's quartet (with Haden, Izenzon, and Ed Blackwell) performed live with Yoko Ono at the Royal Albert Hall ,” (Wikipedia)
• Grateful Dead by Grateful Dead. Coleman performed onstage with the band. “Coleman later joined the Grateful Dead on stage at a 1993 performance in Oakland, California .” (Wikipedia)
• Charlie Haden by Charlie Haden. Haden was a member of Coleman's group. (also via Liberation Music Orchestra) “He began his musical career playing in local R&B and bebop groups and eventually formed his own jazz group in Los Angeles , featuring members such as Ed Blackwell , Don Cherry , Charlie Haden , and Billy Higgins .” (Wikipedia)
• Don Cherry by Don Cherry. Cherry was a member of Coleman's group. (also via Complete Communion) “He began his musical career playing in local R&B and bebop groups and eventually formed his own jazz group in Los Angeles , featuring members such as Ed Blackwell , Don Cherry , Charlie Haden , and Billy Higgins .” (Wikipedia)
• Keith Jarrett (1945). Ornette Coleman's remark to Jarrett documents their personal encounter within the jazz scene. “One of the earliest times I was in the same room with him, he said something like, man, you got to be Black” (Fresh Air Archive (NPR))
• Pee Wee Crayton. Coleman played in Pee Wee Crayton's band. (also via Blues After Hours) “He then joined the band of Pee Wee Crayton and traveled with them to Los Angeles.” (Wikipedia)
• Dewey Redman. Redman joined Coleman's group. (also via The Ear of the Behearer) “Coleman formed another quartet with Haden, Garrison, and Elvin Jones , and Dewey Redman joined the group, usually on tenor saxophone.” (Wikipedia)
• Naked Lunch by David Cronenberg. Coleman performed on the film's soundtrack. “11. Intersong Composed by Ornette Coleman 12. Dr. Benway 13. Clark Nova Dies 14. Ballad / Joan Composed by Ornette Coleman” (Howard Shore)
• Joachim Kühn by Joachim Kühn. Coleman worked regularly with Kühn. “Coleman released four records in 1995 and 1996, and for the first time in many years worked regularly with piano players ( Geri Allen and Joachim Kühn ).” (Wikipedia)
• Geri Allen by Geri Allen. Coleman worked regularly with Allen. “Coleman released four records in 1995 and 1996, and for the first time in many years worked regularly with piano players ( Geri Allen and Joachim Kühn ).” (Wikipedia)
• Howard Shore by Howard Shore. Coleman played on a soundtrack whose orchestra Shore conducted. “In 1991, Coleman played on the soundtrack of David Cronenberg 's film Naked Lunch ; the orchestra was conducted by Howard Shore .” (Wikipedia)
• Billy Higgins by Billy Higgins. Higgins was a member of Coleman's group. “He began his musical career playing in local R&B and bebop groups and eventually formed his own jazz group in Los Angeles , featuring members such as Ed Blackwell , Don Cherry , Charlie Haden , and Billy Higgins .” (Wikipedia)
• Eric Dolphy. Dolphy played bass clarinet on Free Jazz. (via Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, Out to Lunch!) “In 1960, Coleman recorded Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation , which featured a "double quartet" including Cherry and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, Haden and LaFaro on bass, and Higgins and Blackwell on drums.” (Wikipedia)
• Dogon A.D. by Julius Hemphill (1972). Dogon A.D. (Julius Hemphill) — geography for Ornette Coleman “Terrell High School (as did Ornette Coleman).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Ear of the Behearer by Dewey Redman (1973). The Ear of the Behearer (Dewey Redman) — geography for Ornette Coleman “Coleman formed another quartet with Haden, Garrison, and Elvin Jones, and Dewey Redman joined the group, usually on tenor saxophone.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Out to Lunch! by Eric Dolphy (1964). Out to Lunch! (Eric Dolphy) — peer for Ornette Coleman “=== 1960s: Free Jazz and Blue Note === In 1960, Coleman recorded Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, which featured a "double quartet" including Cherry and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, Haden and LaFaro on …” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Unit Structures by Cecil Taylor. Unit Structures (Cecil Taylor) — peer for Ornette Coleman “His funeral was a three-hour event with performances and speeches by several of his collaborators and contemporaries, including Pharoah Sanders and Cecil Taylor.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Ascension by John Coltrane (1965). Ascension (John Coltrane) — peer for Ornette Coleman “Furthermore, Dolphy's angular, voice-like playing earned him a reputation as a figurehead of the New Thing, also known as free jazz, a movement led by Ornette Coleman that was denigrated by some jazz musicians (including Davis) and critics.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Complete Communion by Don Cherry (1966). Complete Communion (Don Cherry) — collaborator for Ornette Coleman “He began his musical career playing in local R&B and bebop groups and eventually formed his own jazz group in Los Angeles, featuring members such as Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Liberation Music Orchestra by Charlie Haden (1969). Liberation Music Orchestra (Charlie Haden) — collaborator for Ornette Coleman “He began his musical career playing in local R&B and bebop groups and eventually formed his own jazz group in Los Angeles, featuring members such as Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Show Stopper by Jamaaladeen Tacuma (1983). Show Stopper (Jamaaladeen Tacuma) — collaborator for Ornette Coleman “The 1976 album Dancing in Your Head, Coleman's first recording with the group which later became known as Prime Time, prominently featured bass guitarist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and electric guitarists Bern Nix and Charlie Ellerbee.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Prime Time. Coleman formed Prime Time. “In the mid-1970s, he formed the group Prime Time , which performed electric jazz-funk and elaborated on his theory of harmolodics .” (Wikipedia)
• Harmolodic. Coleman co-founded the record label with Denardo Coleman. “In 1995, he and Denardo founded the Harmolodic record label.” (Wikipedia)
• The Jam Jivers. Coleman formed The Jam Jivers. “He began performing R&B and bebop on tenor saxophone, and formed The Jam Jivers with Prince Lasha and Charles Moffett .” (Wikipedia)
• Prince Lasha. Coleman formed a group with Prince Lasha. “He began performing R&B and bebop on tenor saxophone, and formed The Jam Jivers with Prince Lasha and Charles Moffett .” (Wikipedia)
• Charles Moffett. Coleman formed a group with Charles Moffett. “He began performing R&B and bebop on tenor saxophone, and formed The Jam Jivers with Prince Lasha and Charles Moffett .” (Wikipedia)
• Paul Bley. Coleman played in Paul Bley's quintet. “During the same year, he briefly belonged to a quintet led by Paul Bley that performed at a club in Los Angeles.” (Wikipedia)
• Ed Blackwell. Blackwell was a member of Coleman's group. “He began his musical career playing in local R&B and bebop groups and eventually formed his own jazz group in Los Angeles , featuring members such as Ed Blackwell , Don Cherry , Charlie Haden , and Billy Higgins .” (Wikipedia)
• Elvin Jones. Jones played in a Coleman quartet. “Coleman formed another quartet with Haden, Garrison, and Elvin Jones , and Dewey Redman joined the group, usually on tenor saxophone.” (Wikipedia)
• Denardo Coleman by Denardo Coleman. Burk identifies Denardo as Coleman's drummer and longtime collaborator. “pianist Geri Allen featured in his acoustic quartet with Charnett Moffett on bass and his son and longtime collaborator, Denardo Coleman, on drums.” (LA Weekly)
• Scott LaFaro. LaFaro played bass on Free Jazz. (via Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation) “In 1960, Coleman recorded Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation , which featured a "double quartet" including Cherry and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, Haden and LaFaro on bass, and Higgins and Blackwell on drums.” (Wikipedia)
• Freddie Hubbard. Hubbard played trumpet on Free Jazz. (via Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation) “In 1960, Coleman recorded Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation , which featured a "double quartet" including Cherry and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, Haden and LaFaro on bass, and Higgins and Blackwell on drums.” (Wikipedia)
• Soul Twist by King Curtis (1962). Soul Twist (King Curtis) — geography for Ornette Coleman “Terrell High School, and studied and performed music with schoolmate Ornette Coleman (1930–2015).” (en.wikipedia.org)

Who Ornette Coleman influenced

• John Coltrane. Coltrane showed interest in Coleman's music during his late period. (also via The Shape of Jazz to Come, Ascension) “And Ornette Coleman sometimes plays music with a Spanish content as well as other exotic-flavored music. In these approaches there’s something I can draw on and use in the way I like to play.” (DownBeat)
• Joanne Brackeen by Joanne Brackeen. Brackeen said Coleman mentored and taught her. “Jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen stated in an interview with Marian McPartland that Coleman mentored her and gave her music lessons.” (Wikipedia)
• Charles Mingus. The article connects the instrumentation and ambitions of Mingus’s quartet to Coleman’s. (also via Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation) “This ensemble featured the same instruments as Coleman's quartet and is often regarded as Mingus rising to the challenging new standard established by Coleman.” (Wikipedia)
• Jeff Tweedy. Tweedy enjoyed and was influenced by free jazz artist Ornette Coleman. “Tweedy and O'Rourke enjoyed free jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman , Albert Ayler , and Derek Bailey” (Wikipedia)
• Captain Beefheart. The article identifies Coleman as part of Van Vliet's formative listening. “He developed his taste and interest in music, listening to the Delta blues of Son House and Robert Johnson ; jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman , John Coltrane , Thelonious Monk , and Cecil Taylor ; and the electric Chicago blues of Ho…” (Wikipedia)
• Sonic Youth. The article names Ornette Coleman among Sonic Youth’s major influences. “Rhys Chatham , Ornette Coleman , John Coltrane , La Monte Young , [ 95 ] Neil Young , Yoko Ono , Brigitte Fontaine” (Wikipedia)
• Bright Size Life by Pat Metheny (1976). Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny) — legacy for Ornette Coleman “In December 1985, Coleman and guitarist Pat Metheny recorded Song X with Haden, Denardo Coleman, and second drummer Jack DeJohnette.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• V.. A character in the novel is modeled partly on Coleman. “McClintic Sphere, a character in Thomas Pynchon 's 1963 novel V. , is modeled on Coleman and Thelonious Monk .” (Wikipedia)
• Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman by John Zorn (1989). Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman (John Zorn) — legacy for Ornette Coleman “He recorded Spy vs Spy featuring hardcore punk versions of Ornette Coleman's compositions in 1989.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Mandance by Ronald Shannon Jackson (1982). Mandance (Ronald Shannon Jackson) — legacy for Ornette Coleman “Jackson and bassist Sirone are the only musicians to have performed and recorded with the three prime shapers of free jazz: pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Mary Halvorson. The Shape of Jazz to Come (Ornette Coleman) — titan for Mary Halvorson (via The Shape of Jazz to Come) (musicbrainz.org)
• The Velvet Underground by The Velvet Underground. Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (Ornette Coleman) — titan for The Velvet Underground (via Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation)
• Robert Altman. Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (Ornette Coleman) — culture for Robert Altman (via Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation)